The Dream of Flying

From the Lilienthal glider to the Europa rocket, more than 70 aircraft are on display at Flugwerft Schleißheim on 8,000 square meters – on the edge of an airfield that is more than 100 years old. The Flugwerft was opened in 1992 as the first branch of the Deutsches Museum and has since become one of the largest and most important aviation museums in Germany. A good 100,000 visitors come to Oberschleißheim every year.

The museum is located on the edge of the oldest operating airfield in Germany. In the historic hangar, where aircraft were once repaired and maintained, visitors today get a brief introduction to aviation. There are also aircraft on display that have a direct connection to the history of the Flugwerft - such as military aircraft from the time of the First World War. But the Musculair 2 muscle-powered aircraft also belongs here: it was used to set a world speed record at Schleißheim airfield in 1985.

Larger aircraft are waiting in the new exhibition hall: a Heinkel He 111 and Douglas DC-3, for example, a three-engine Dornier Do 24 flying boat or the ATTAS research aircraft. In addition, there are military aircraft from the post-war period: a Starfighter can be seen here as well as a Soviet Mig or the first prototype of the Eurofighter. Equally impressive are the exhibits that actually represent a technological dead end: the German high-flyers such as the Dornier Do 31, which swallowed up enormous development costs but never reached production maturity. Finally, helicopters await visitors here - and gliders hang under the roof. In the rear part of the hall, visitors can marvel at the huge Euro parachute rocket. Guests can also try their hand as pilots here at the "Flying Circus" or at a flight simulator.

Visitors can see another highlight between the old and new halls: the transparent aircraft workshop. Here, historic aircraft are restored - and you can look over the shoulder of the museum's experts. There is also a small exhibition on the early history of aviation and the exciting history of the Flugwerft itself.

And at least once a year, the Flugwerft is transformed into a "flying museum". That is when historic aircraft from Germany and abroad come to Schleißheim for the annual "Fly-In".